How Hyderabad metro CCTV footage helped police nab serial killer who had killed 18 women

Hyderabad: Footage from around 500 CCTV cameras across the city helped the sleuths of the Hyderabad and Rachakonda police arrest the serial killer, Maina Ramulu. The CCTV cameras at Ameerpet and Uppal Metro stations played a vital role in his arrest.

On 26th January, The sleuths of the Hyderabad Task Force, North Zone, along with the Rachakonda Police apprehended a most wanted serial killer and found two new cases of murder that are said to be committed by him. Maina Ramulu, 45, who was a stone cutter by profession, was previously arrested in 21 cases in which 16 were murder for gain cases, four property cases, and had also escaped from police custody once. He was given life sentence but was released from jail after appealing to the High Court.

It is said that Ramulu had taken to killing women as a revenge after his wife eloped soon after marriage. He would identify lone women and invite them to spend time with him. Afterwards he would get them into an inebriated state through alcohol, gratify himself sexually, and murder them by strangling them or hitting them with a boulder. He would rob them of their valuable items and make his escape.

How CCTV footage helped cops nab the serial killer

The search for Maina Ramulu began when Ananthaiah, from Venkatagiri, Jubilee Hills, filed a complaint with the police that his wife, Kavala Venkatamma, had gone missing. Venkatamma's body was later found near a railway track at Ankushapur village, under the limits of Ghatkesar Police station. The police booked a case and began investigation. As part of the probe cops analysed the CCTV footage.

The cameras at these locations captured Ramulu accompanying the victim Kavala Venkatamma. This not only helped the police detect two unsolved murders but also unravelled the 16 murders he had committed since 2003.

Cops found an unidentified woman's body with her face burned, near the railway tracks at Ankushapur village in Ghatkesar on the outskirts of the city. The family members of the missing woman identified the woman's body and confirmed her as Venkatamma.

Though the missing case was solved, what puzzled the cops was how Venkatamma, a resident of Venkatagiri in Jubilee Hills, went to Ghatkesar, which is around 40 km away from her home, or who took her there. The woman's family told the police that Venkatamma was in the habit of consuming toddy regularly. Upon inquiring at a nearby toddy compound, the police found that she had boarded an auto-rickshaw near the toddy compound at Yousufguda

Tracking her movements, they found that she along with another person had alighted at Ameerpet and then boarded a Metro train bound for Nagole. Further analysis of CCTV footage from Metro stations showed that the duo had alighted at Uppal Metro station and taken an auto-rickshaw from there.

Since the photo of the man did not match the record of old offenders in their data, the Rachakonda police shared the details with the Hyderabad city police who also swung into action. After a thorough inquiry and running old offenders' records, they finally identified Maina Ramulu and nabbed him.

Ramulu had killed 16 women whom he trapped at toddy compounds. He got them drunk then killed and robbed their valuables. With his arrest, the police discovered two more murders, taking the total number of murders committed by Ramulu to 18.

The accused was handed over to the State house officer of Ghatkesar Police station for further investigation.